2 Elden World (1/2)

Li opened his eyes to a whole different reality - Elden World. He stood in the midst of a wondrous garden that would never have been possible in the real world.

Flowers and ferns and vines and herbs of all kinds and colors and shapes dotted the garden, organized into neat little square patches walled with gold-engraved marble. Rustic, worn and beaten dirt paths ran around and joined each patch, forming into a neat grid that connected every grove to the other.

Gurgling from flowing water echoed through the air. The water trickled from fountains placed in the center of each garden grove, their forms carved from snow white alabaster and shaped into the maws of wondrous beasts.

Here was Li's greatest work. His time and passion manifested. His blood, sweat, and tears over five years crystallized. His guild – the Arboretum. He was currently located in the Inner Sanctum, the most important and central location of the guild. It was meeting place for the guild's executives, the treasury, and Li's garden all in one.

Over the years, he had gathered the rarest types of plants in Elden World and planted them here. These were plants that could be fashioned into the highest tier of crafting materials and certain coveted Celestial-class items required these unique materials to create. Many of these plants were also the only ones of their kind, won from one-time events or auctions that Li had paid no small price to obtain in both effort and money.

Li looked to the horizon. Tall trees rose up almost like gate walls. They were twisted and gnarly with the faces of what seemed to be agonized humans etched into their bark. Beyond them was an entire forest of these haunting trees - the Medial Sanctum.

Arboretum's structure was that of a concentric circle with three layers. The Inner Sanctum where Li currently stood was the smallest and innermost circle. The Medial was the forest surrounding it, full of wild beasts acting as guards. Then there was the Outer Sanctum, a great big moat teeming with fish both deadly and harmless, outlining the forest.

Mostly cosmetic choices, really. Guilds couldn't be invaded unless in agreed upon guild wars, but the idea of having some kind of indestructible fortress was still appealing.

As far as guilds went, though, Arboretum didn't rank highly. Li, though a competent combatant, wasn't even the highest ranked player in the guild. That title belonged to Oceanmaster or perhaps //BEAST//, creators and maintainers of the Outer and Medial sanctums respectively and two of Li's closest friends and executive members of the guild's board.

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But there was no argument as to who the most important player was.

Arboretum was one of the wealthiest guilds around despite not having any tournament record. That was almost solely because of Li's gargantuan efforts. By stockpiling and gathering all these rare, one-of-a-kind herbs and materials over hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars, he guaranteed that the guild had sole control over their supply.

Farming them was easy. Place them in a garden, let time pass, and voila – copies of them emerged. But Arboretum tightly controlled who got these materials, jacking up their prices and preventing seeds from ever getting out, only ever selling crafting materials that could never be planted.